LPL Financial LLC Purchases 3,439 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $5,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in WEX by 191.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 79.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,851 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of WEX by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in WEX by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,240,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $260,265,000 after buying an additional 3,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX during the third quarter valued at about $251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Down 5.5 %

Shares of WEX opened at $113.54 on Wednesday. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $111.97 and a 1 year high of $241.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.70. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. On average, analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.80.

About WEX

WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings.